NGen: Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. What is it?

NGen: Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. What is it?

This session will highlight the key concepts of primary management system standards, as well as provoke interest in the standards that may be applicable in your organization. The adoption of a quality management system is a strategic decision for an organization that can help to improve its overall performance.

Some quick facts that will be discussed:

• First version of ISO 9001 was issued in 1987
• The Canadian welding industry was looking for a registrar that understood its business
• In 1994, CWB Group established an ISO Registration division called QUASAR, now CWB Registration, to service the industry needs
• CWB Registration provides ISO registration services and auditing to industry specific standards

Fibernomics is an all-encompassing economic principle and the key to a competitive advantage in today’s sheet metal fabricating environment. It is no longer about how a single piece of machinery will affect the fabrication process, but how all the machines and supporting software technologies work together to create a cohesive and effective fabrication business solution.

Moving to a Digital Operating Model is a major transformation with many work streams spanning multiple years. Many businesses find it daunting or even impossible to digitize their manual or paper-based processes. These operational processes are deeply ingrained within the organization throughout all levels of the organization. For B2B businesses, digitizing their dealer management, complex quoting processes, and intricate spreadsheets can seem like too big of a hill to climb. But by proactively identifying barriers and fail points prior to starting on your digital journey, you can increase the success and adoption rate of your digital plan ten-fold. Knowing the top challenges faced by businesses when transforming company operations to digital will ensure you get the buy-in you need and avoid issues that could derail your plans.

This session addresses transformation challenges and how to overcome them, including organizational change management, digital business process best practices, and workforce/talent issues.

This will be an informative session on how to recognize SR&ED activities performed in the development phase of our new technology

• What is the minimum structure requirement to meet the eligibility criteria of the SR&ED program
• What type of benefits are available in Alberta from the SR&ED program
• What is the important information to track to meet the eligibility criteria of the SR&ED program
• What type of expenditures are eligible
• What documentation is necessary as evidence to support SR&ED activities performed

Based on the type of development activities and the stage of development, this informative session will also touch on other government incentive programs available in Canada, which support:

• Investment in business expansion plans
• International export expansion plan
• Development of green projects
• Training sessions to up-skill your employees
• Integration of state of the art technologies
• Job creation in your project

In recent years accelerating changes in technology have required that more new technology-based tools be introduced to workers while conducting their daily tasks. Although the technologies which managers seek to introduce may be helpful to improve safety, increase efficiency, and are easy to use, workers may not have that perception of the new tools. However, resistance to new technology usage in the workplace is not new and there are steps that have been proven helpful.

In order to improve worker adoption of technology-based tools, like Augmented Reality (AR)- enabled devices, employers and manufacturers can apply principles of communication theory. Using six simple steps: (1) inform, (2) simplify, (3) visualize, (4) influence, (5) demonstrate, and (6) encourage management can help their workers transition smoothly to industry 4.0.

Join this discussion and learn to:

• Prime workers’ mindsets before organizational change takes place (through visual aids).
• Get employee influencers on board with the change and others will follow.
• Communicate the change to workers promoting what aspect of the technology benefits them.

An Alberta-based innovative company came up with a revolutionary solution for a high demand application: Large storage tanks of up to 20,000 barrels. Their unique design allows for extremely fast on-site set-up. The tanks are made of several large dimensions panels, assembled together in the field using hinge and pins. Considering the large amount of weld involved in the making of those tank panels, the end user turned to automation for the welding operations and selected a robotic integrator that could offer local support.

Learn about the steps taken from product design to shop floor implementation, the challenges faced and how the end user and the robotic integrator work together to achieve success in robotic welding through Offline programming, weld procedure developments, operator training, program optimizations, product design changes, quality control and preparation for the future.

Anyone wanting to implement robotics – especially for those who use large size parts – should join this discussion, including shop owners, managers, supervisors, welding engineering technologists, welding engineers and manufacturing engineers as well as robotic programmers.

Investing in a robotic weld cell can be a big step for a small company and oftentimes once the investment is made, the cell doesn’t get utilized to its full capacity. The reasons are varied and many but a few of the more common ones are the result of not fully understanding the capabilities of the equipment and/or utilization of additional software and hardware tools that are available. How can I program my robot while I am running production? Why am I spending so much time touching up my program? How can I introduce new parts to my robot cell without shutting down production while I integrate?

These questions will be answered along with insights and industry accepted methods and products that will help the manufacturer to get the most out of their robotic weld cell.

From Mach 0.8 rocket powered drones to generatively designed hydraulic manifolds, learn about innovative solutions to complex additive manufacturing problems developed and tested at Renishaw’s Canadian Solution Centre. Medical device development at ADEISS will also be illustrated with case studies over the past 2 years.

Parts manufactured using metal additive techniques nearly always require some post print machining to achieve required tolerances. Parts are often both harder to hold and more prone to vibration as a result of topology optimization.

Advanced probing software can eliminate the need for a repeatable high precision (expensive) fixtures. The only requirement is for cutter access and part rigidity. Probing enables new low cost techniques such as plastic printed vice jaws, or even glue, to be used to hold parts. Examples are shown and requirements for part stiffness are discussed.

Much of the talk of robotics and mobility in the oil and gas industry has centered around the automation of repetitive and dangerous tasks in the field, such as connecting drilling pipes and autonomous underwater vehicles. This emphasis often ignores how these same solutions can support the production processes of large, heavy equipment for the industry.

The manufacturing of big, heavy parts, sometimes in small batches, has always been challenging, even with automation. Over the last decade, however, new, more flexible automation technology has been developed to enable more companies to automate their production. One such solution is the mobile robot, platforms with or without robots that are capable of transporting, processing and measuring heavy, big parts. It is now possible to precisely maneuver mobile platforms, carrying up to 100 tons of payload. These mobile robots make it possible to process or check the quality of big parts without the need for big, complex installations.

Learn how mobile platform and robots can be used to increase the flexibility of automation projects in the manufacturing environment. Several examples will be presented to illustrate the implementation of these technologies with main focus on heavy and big part production.